Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Matthew soon calmed down after he remembered that I always put them in these kinds of traps which Oscar always fall for. Clued by his wife's initial reaction, he just sat in place but his expression was still of annoyance.

"Anyway, Gemma and Joseph will be given more freedom but would still be monitored and supervised. This arrangement is not final, the same with everyone else we allowed inside our walls. Do we have any more things do discuss?" I looked at them.

"Kid, our cargo helicopter may come in a day or two before the year ends. Although, they mentioned that they may bring more people than what was promised." Oscar said.

"Are the rest of Tatiana's team included?" Kaley chimed.

"Yeah, they'll all be coming here." Oscar replied.

"..." Tatiana, Mikhail, and Vera were silent but a smile formed in each of their faces.

"I'll finally meet their team leader for once. It's about time I start another project." I thought to myself.

"You said there would be more people? Who?" Johnny asked.

"It's the immediate family of Avalos, Honassan, and Lawrence. Loyal only to the president or not, they'd be more inclined to keep this place safe and much more if their family are here. Well, that's what I took from it when I received the news. They're all hardworking people and they've been vouched for so they're a welcome addition." Oscar explained.

"Then it's all good. If they do something stupid, they're not immune, right?" I asked.

"Our rules would also apply to them. They could be the son of the president but our place, our rules. That fucking shit needs to be respected." Oscar said with a serious look.

"Oh yeah, speaking about them, Lawrence said that they also reclaimed the church right next to PNHS. It's because the walls separating them were too short and it spans a long way. He said it would be better to just include it because the church is also high enough to be a great vantage point." Matthew added.

"You went there, dad?" Kaley asked.

"Yesterday." Matthew replied.

"Anything else?" I looked at the group then Jay raised his hands.

"Yeah?" I asked him to stand up.

"I'm gonna need to borrow a few more nets because the one we placed in the canal system ripped because they weren't able to carry the weight of several undead. It just happened before we came to this meeting so I just waited for everyone to be done. We could make one after this and lay them out or tomorrow when there's light." Jay said, scratching his head.

"Oh, you could just make one and lay it out tomorrow. We wouldn't be able to find someone in the dark if someone accidentally falls in." I replied.

I asked for more topics they wanted to discuss though I noticed Unc Zeidrick, Raphael, and Anthony still have greasy hands. It seemed that they wanted the meeting to end so they could continue on with their projects. Since no one had any more topics to bring up, we finally ended the meeting.

As I guessed, the three with their apprentices immediately exited the premises and went straight to Anthony's house which was a few meters outside the gate he made before.

"I wonder what they're up to. I hope our vehicles are done already." I thought to myself.

We cleaned the tables up before we headed to the gym.

Since a lot more people got interested to work on their bodies, the gym I have on the third floor was beginning to get smaller and smaller for everyone, even if it was open for use aside from night time. The best solution was to make use of the unused buildings and make one or two for the others, in a different location. Those locations were obviously the DDR Camp and Woodlands. The equipment for them was easily procured and other equipment from my gym that they wanted to have was requested from our engineers.

Doing that, most of the people inside my gym were just from my humble abode. The only ones that would make their way over here were the ones wanting to sit in for a lesson, not just building their bodies from the ground up.

"I love more people trying to work on their bodies but damn I still want some space for myself." I laughed inwardly.

I was peacefully working on my daily routine right now because Vera and Mikhail had taken over my spot. I would only teach lessons when it was the beginner and advanced class for guns and the specialized class for CCW. It was easy to poke your weapon in a biter's head but shooting them without proper training was a disaster waiting to happen. If they were gonna use guns, I would like them to do it right and that was why I was still teaching even the beginner class.

However, there was something still haunting me to this day: the endless requests for a different kind of lesson.

"HEY! I'M FUCKING GETTING A CLEAN HIT IN THIS TIME!!!" Bing was already rotating his shoulders, clad in protective gear. Chris was also present but he was still on the process of finishing his workout.

They call it a sparring session but with their current skills, it would be much safer to call it a scheduled beating. I was one to analyze an opponent's skill level first before attempting an attack but Bing with a few others was different.

"Well, it's bad to get too overconfident." I reminded myself but I still let out a smirk when I walked on the mat.

The moment the bell rang, Bing actually didn't rush towards me. He maintained a safe distance while bopping up and down and weaving his head on both sides.

"Trying something new, eh?" I chuckled.

"Shut up and let me do my thing!" Bing exclaimed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"YOU GONNA ATTACK OR WHAT?!" Bing roared once more, annoyed that we were just standing in place.

"Shut up and let me do my thing." I sent his words right back at him.

It was a good thing that he tried to do that new shit here, trying something new outside would have the highest probability of getting someone killed. He almost lost his cool not only from the words I said but by also putting himself out of his comfort zone. Waiting and finding out wasn't his style so it was slowly eating up on him. It was already commendable he managed to keep his emotion in check for a couple of minutes.

Bing stepped forward and led with a swift jab followed by a slow straight.

I tilted my head to avoid the jab but I moved to his left side to deliver a body blow with my left.

His abdominal muscles were solid and I surmised it didn't do enough damage.

He turned to me while aiming for my temple with his elbow but I quickly caught it with my left hand. I lifted his left arm up while I delivered a kick towards his chin by flicking my left foot up. The snapping sound it produced made a few people wince but Bing was still standing. He was getting better at receiving punishment but I was starting to slowly whittle him down.

I used to knock them out by a solid hit but now I was trying to show them our difference by at least letting them dance with me for a while.

I took a step back when he regained his balance but his nose was bleeding. Not only it could affect his breathing but his head was also getting affected by the smirk I was always letting out. Blood was starting to rush in his head but he still opened with a jab instead of his usual overhead, telegraphed swings.

What's funny was I opened with a poke at the same time.

As I noticed his shoulder moving for a punch, I curled my right toe and I aimed for the bottom of his sternum and the top of his stomach. My leg was obviously longer than his arm and I reached him first. He tried to grab my foot but a strong and surgical hit to the solar plexus would just about knock the wind out of anyone.

"GH-HACCKKKK!!!" Bing was clutching his stomach with a pained expression.

I followed it with a left kick to his right side and I put in everything I got. The wind whistled as my left foot came for him. It sliced through the air and the thud that followed sounds like a dead cow was dropped from the roof. I could saw everyone wince but I wound up to send another once.

Bing's body folded to the side and he went down a few seconds before the bell rang.

"You good?" I asked him.

"Hngh..." Bing replied.

"Want an Ibuprofen?"

"Hnghn..."

"No?"

"Hngnh!!!"

"Yes?"

"Hnggnh!!!"

"Oh, Tatiana! Bing said he wants to spar with you next!"

"HNGGBH~!!!"

"What?! With Vera as well?! You're crazy!!!"

"..."

"You already gave up? Why is everyone starting to figure out my speech patters?! Heh, let me help you up."

A few more people asked for pointers but time passed and I was soon in front of the rest of the notebooks I need to take a closer look at. Most of them were gibberish and diagrams I couldn't understand. What's worse was that not only just a few but a lot of pages were missing from the notebooks.

They were ripped straight off making the deciphering of the readable passages impossible. When I was done looking through a notebook, most of the words repeated were the following: Zealots, Ascension, Apocalypse, and as always, The Father.

I was staring at some of the diagrams but I heard Kaley's voice from behind.

"Why don't you use my glasses? You'd see clearer that way." Kaley mentioned but I got confused from her statement.

"You and I have perfect vision, why would I-" I turned around to face her but I think this was the present I still haven't received.

Kaley was just wearing thigh-high socks and fake glasses, nothing more.